Playlist 01.26.20 : Five Songs for the Weekend

Finally, some music that makes you want to get up and do something! English talent Mura Masa and voice of the youth slowthai have teamed up to deliver us a full-on riot pop anthem.

“Deal Wiv It” possesses real toss-me-around, so what if I chip a tooth energy. The entire song is unapologetically English. Mura Masa is more than just a talented producer; he’s an architect of sound. Through each of his latest singles, including “Deal Wiv It,” he’s able to build a world of the past within the present. His music evokes nostalgia.

Both slowthai’s vocally dramatic presence and Mura Masa’s stellar overlaying ribbed guitar, gritty bass work, and tick-tocking high hats create a realm filled with relaxed chaos. It is the enthralling vision of someone calmy narrating the world around you as it crumbles. This is new wave. This is post-punk.

Visually, slowthai is a thrill to watch in the accompanying video to “Deal Wiv It.” Somewhere in Serbia, slowthai runs through an apartment parking lot as a camera follows his every move. He looks like a total renegade, hopping over curbs, and flipping off the camera in his slowthai branded boxers. The entire affair is a moment of contained, euphoric chaos.

Wasting no time in the new year, Mick Jenkins made his return just days after the ball dropped with a new single and news of a new EP. Arriving later this week, The Circus stands as the Chicago rapper’s first project since 2018’s Pieces Of A Man. Produced by Black Milk, the EP’s lead single, “Carefree,” finds him aspiring for a life without worry, striving to let the negativity in the world do anything but distract.

With just days remaining until The Circus arrives, Jenkins unveils the music video for “Carefree.” With direction from Jack Begert, Jenkins begins the video by enjoying the late-night aura of the beach. Letting his thoughts run free, he departs for a new location and is later pulled over by police, seemingly stalling his goal of a worry-free life.

Speaking on the upcoming EP in a statement, Jenkins said, “The Circus EP is a body of work about just that. These days it’s very hard to look at the state of the world and popular culture and not see allegory that makes this metaphor our reality more often than not.” In addition to the video and the upcoming EP, Jenkins will also join Dreamville’s EarthGang on their Welcome to Mirrorland tour set to kick off January 16.

Sega Bodega’s upcoming debut album, Salvador, marks a change in focus for the young producer. While he’s crafted futuristic pop bangers for acts like Shygirl and Coucou Chloe, Salvador presents Sega Bodega as the front-person and vocalist. “Salv Goes To Hollywood” is the album’s second single, offering a more well-rounded view of the London-based artist than its previous single, “U Suck.” That was a solid lead track, but it missed some of Sega Bodega’s more experimental tendencies. “Salv Goes To Hollywood” embraces them with an industrial beat and heavily distorted vocals. It’s not full-throttle weirdness, but the early gearshift into a slinky melodic pop tune only heightens its uneasy nature. These two sections sit comfortably side-by-side, unified by the “Windowlicker”-style vocals.

“Comme Des Garçons (Like The Boys)” arrives after last year’s comeback single “STFU!”.

Speaking about the new single, Sawayama says, “When I was writing this song I wanted on one hand to lyrically explore the idea of people having to adopt negative male tropes to appear confident, whilst on the other sonically paying homage to the early 2000s dance tracks that made me feel confident. The idea that the socially acceptable version of confidence is in acting “like the boys”, otherwise as a woman you get called a bitch – but in the club, we reclaim the word “bitch” as a sign of ultimate confidence (‘yes bitch’, ‘work bitch’). I wanted to sit these two together and make a club fashion banger that makes you feeling like THAT bitch whoever you are.”

SAWAYAMA is the singer/songwriter’s debut album, and first collection of tracks since her 2017 mini-album RINA.

Discussing her forthcoming LP, Sawayama explains, “The album ultimately is about family and identity. It’s about understanding yourself in the context of two opposing cultures (for me British and Japanese), what “belonging” means when home is an evolving concept, figuring out where you sit comfortably within and awkwardly outside of stereotypes, and ultimately trying to be ok with just being you, warts and all.”

Cologne, Germany’s electronic duo COMA today announced their new album Voyage Voyage will be released on November 22nd via City Slang, and shared an early preview via the video for first single “A-Train.” COMA says “A-Train” lyrically and musically “expresses the feelings of uncertainty and insecurity when coming to terms with radical situations in your life.” Tilman Singer (whose credits include 2018’s acclaimed horror thriller Luz) directed the accompanying clip, filmed on Super 8; watch the “A-Train” video now HERE. COMA have also announced European tour dates for 2019 and 2020, including the Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg, DE on September 20th. See below for a current itinerary. Voyage Voyage is now available for pre-order HERE.

Georg Conrad and Marius Bubat—aka COMA—may have their roots firmly in Cologne’s fabled club scene (they initially signed to the city’s established electronic label Kompakt) but their effervescent, groove-tipped synth-pop blurs boundaries and strays outside the lines. Their new home of City Slang (Caribou, Gold Panda, Son Lux, Roosevelt) is the perfect fit for their hypnotic brand of indie-electro. After releasing a steady stream of records that includes their 2013 debut In Technicolor and 2015’s This Side of Paradise—featuring singles that earned praise from Pitchfork,XLR8R, Resident Advisor, and more—Bubat and Conrad experienced a transformative time marked by a series of tragedies and milestones, including the loss of a parent and the birth of a child. For Conrad, getting back in the studio proved a potent form of therapy that can transcend an often painful reality: “Making music is a kind of escapism, it puts you in a different world where you forget everything around you.”

Voyage Voyage tells the story of these complicated moments through an equally complex sonic web, and casts a sweet and heavy-hearted glow on listeners. Across 10 pristine tracks, the pair meld piano, guitar, drums, synths, and electronic flourishes with futuristic vocal harmonies, which amp up the melancholic pop factor and capture life’s fleeting moments, moods, and adventures. The duo have also upped their instrument game since their previous release, adding new synths, a Fender Mustang Bass, and a vintage drum kit to their arsenal—all of which anchor Voyage Voyage in an analog-meets-digital universe informed by the haunted memories of their ‘90s childhoods.

COMA fuse dance music’s communal properties with an indie sensibility. Rich in melody and melancholy, Voyage Voyage is the latest in COMA’s repertoire that occupies an emotionally-driven corner of the electronic music spectrum, where dynamic soundscapes collide with heartfelt lyrics.